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Poland Listeni/'po?l?nd/ (Polish: Polska; pronounced ['p?

lska] ( listen)), offic


ially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; pronounced [??t??p?
'sp??it?a 'p?lska] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe bordered by German
y to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus
to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) and Lit
huania to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,
726 sq mi),[8] making it the 71st largest country in the world and the 9th large
st in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people,[8] Poland is the 34
th most populous country in the world,[10] the sixth most populous member of the
European Union, and the most populous post-communist member of the European Uni
on. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions.
Many historians trace the establishment of a Polish state to 966, when Mieszko I
,[11] ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland,
converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 156
9 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithu
ania by signing the Union of Lublin, forming the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. T
he Commonwealth gradually ceased to exist in the years 1772 1795, when the Polish
territory was partitioned among Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. Poland
regained its independence (as the Second Polish Republic) at the end of World W
ar I, in 1918.
Two decades later, in September 1939, World War II started with the invasions of
Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (as part of the Molotov Ribbentrop Pa
ct). More than six million Polish citizens died in the war.[12][13][14][15] In 1
944, a Soviet-backed Polish provisional government was formed, which, after a pe
riod of conflict, falsified referendum and elections, gave rise to a satellite s
tate[16] of the Soviet Union, Polish Republic (Rzeczpospolita Polska), renamed t
o the People's Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) in 1952. During
the Revolutions of 1989, Poland's Marxist Leninist government was overthrown and
Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy under the n
ame Rzeczpospolita Polska, often referred to as the "Third Polish Republic" (III
Rzeczpospolita).
Despite the vast destruction the country experienced during World War II, Poland
managed to preserve much of its cultural wealth. There are 14 heritage sites in
scribed on the UNESCO World Heritage[17] and 54 Historical Monuments and many ob
jects of cultural heritage. Since the end of the communist period, Poland has ac
hieved a "very high" ranking in terms of human development.[18]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Piast dynasty
2.2 Jagiellon dynasty
2.3 Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
2.4 The Age of Partitions
2.5 Reconstitution of Poland
2.6 World War II
2.7 Postwar communist Poland
2.8 Present-day Poland
3 Geography
3.1 Geology
3.2 Waters
3.3 Land use
3.4 Biodiversity
3.5 Climate
4 Politics
4.1 Law
4.2 Foreign relations

4.3 Administrative divisions


4.4 Military
4.5 Law enforcement and emergency services
5 Economy
5.1 Corporations
5.2 Tourism
5.3 Energy
5.4 Transport
5.5 Science and technology
5.6 Communications
6 Demographics
6.1 Urbanization
6.2 Religion
6.3 Health
6.4 Education
6.4.1 Elementary and secondary
6.4.2 Higher education
7 Culture
7.1 Famous people
7.2 Society
7.3 Music
7.4 Visual arts
7.5 Architecture
7.6 Literature
7.7 Media
7.8 Cuisine
7.9 Sports
8 International rankings
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
Etymology
Main article: Name of Poland
The source of the name Poland[19] and the ethnonyms for the Poles[20] include en
donyms (the way Polish people refer to themselves and their country) and exonyms
(the way other peoples refer to the Poles and their country). Endonyms and most
exonyms for Poles and Poland derive from the name of the West Slavic tribe of t
he Polans (Polanie).
The origin of the name Polanie itself is uncertain. It may derive from such Poli
sh words as pole (field).[21] The early tribal inhabitants denominated it from t
he nature of the country. Lowlands and low hills predominate throughout the vast
region from the Baltic shores to the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Int
er Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia, sic dicta in eorum idiomate quasi Campan
ia is the description by Gervase of Tilbury in his Otia imperialia (Recreation f
or the emperor, 1211). In some languages the exonyms for Poland derive from anot
her tribal name, Lechites (Lechici).
History
Main article: History of Poland
Historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic
groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The ethnicity and linguistic
affiliation of these groups have been hotly debated; the time and route of the
original settlement of Slavic peoples in these regions lacks written records and
can only be defined as fragmented.[22]
The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Pola
nd is the Biskupin fortified settlement (now reconstructed as an open air museum
), dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, around 700 BC. The Sl

avic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of
the 5th century AD. Up until the creation of Mieszko's state and his subsequent
conversion to Christianity in 966 AD, the main religion of Slavic tribes that in
habited the geographical area of present-day Poland was Slavic paganism. After t
he Baptism of Poland the new religion accepted by the Polish ruler was Catholici
sm. The transition to Christianity was not a smooth and instantaneous process fo
r the rest of the population as evident from the pagan reaction of the 1030s.[23
]
Piast dynasty
Main articles: History of Poland during the Piast dynasty and Gesta principum Po
lonorum
Map of Poland (Polish: Polska) in 960 992 under Mieszko I
Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around t
he middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historical
ly documented ruler, Mieszko I, accepted baptism in 966 and adopted Catholicism
as the new official religion of his subjects. The bulk of the population convert
ed in the course of the next few centuries. In 1000, Boleslaw the Brave, continu
ing the policy of his father Mieszko, held a Congress of Gniezno and created the
metropolis of Gniezno and the dioceses of Krakw, Kolobrzeg, and Wroclaw. The pag
an unrest however, led to the transfer of the capital to Krakw in 1038 by Casimir
I the Restorer.[24]
King of Poland Mieszko II Lambert (c. 990 1034). Earliest known contemporary depic
tion of a Polish ruler
Prince Boleslaw III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V in the 1109 Ba
ttle of Hundsfeld, writes Gallus Anonymus in his 1118 chronicle.[25] In 1138, Po
land fragmented into several smaller duchies when Boleslaw divided his lands amo
ng his sons. In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia, one of the regional Piast dukes, invi
ted the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans; a decisio
n which led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. Elements of what is called
now human rights may be found in early times of the Polish state. The Statute o
f Kalisz or the General Charter of Jewish Liberties (issued in 1264) introduced
numerous right for the Jews in Poland, leading to a nearly autonomous "nation wi
thin a nation".[26]
In the middle of 13th-century the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty (Henry I
the Bearded and Henry II the Pious, ruled 1238 1241) almost succeeded in uniting t
he Polish lands, but the Mongols devastated the country and won the Battle of Le
gnica where Duke Henry II the Pious died (1241). In 1320, after a number of earl
ier unsuccessful attempts by regional rulers at uniting the Polish dukedoms, Wla
dyslaw I consolidated his power, took the throne and became the first King of a
reunified Poland. His son, Casimir III (reigned 1333 1370), has a reputation as on
e of the greatest Polish kings, and gained wide recognition for improving the co
untry's infrastructure.[27][28] Casimir also extended royal protection to Jews,
and encouraged their immigration to Poland.[27][29]
Malbork Castle of the Teutonic Knights.
The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as
y, and Polish nobility became one of the most educated groups in
The library catalogue of the Cathedral Chapter of Krakw dating
s that in the early 12th-century Polish intellectuals had access
erature.

the 12th centur


Europe.[30][31]
back to 1110 show
to European lit

Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especial
ly lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and of
fices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were fin

ally rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the University of
Krakw.
The Golden Liberty of the nobles began to develop under Casimir's rule, when in
return for their military support, the king made serious concessions to the aris
tocrats, finally establishing their status as superior to that of the townsmen,
and aiding their rise to power. When Casimir died in 1370 he left no legitimate
male heir and, considering his other male descendants either too young or unsuit
able, was laid to rest as the last of the nation's Piast rulers.
Poland also became a magnet for migrants. Germans settled in the towns; the Jewi
sh community began to settle and flourish in Poland during this era (see History
of the Jews in Poland); the same applies in smaller number to Armenians. The Bl
ack Death which afflicted most parts of Europe from 1347 to 1351 affected Poland
less severely.[32][33]
Jagiellon dynasty
Main article: History of Poland (1385 1569)
Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God. Painting by Jan Matejko, 1873.
The rule of the Jagiellon dynasty spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern
Era of Polish history. Beginning with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Wladysl
aw II Jagiello), the Jagiellon dynasty (1386 1572) formed the Polish Lithuanian unio
n. The partnership brought vast Lithuania-controlled Rus' areas into Poland's sp
here of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexi
sted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the n
ext four centuries. In the Baltic Sea region Poland's struggle with the Teutonic
Knights continued and included the Battle of Grunwald (1410), where a Polish-Li
thuanian army inflicted a decisive defeat on the Teutonic Knights, both countrie
s' main adversary, allowing Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion into
the far north region of Livonia.[34] In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War, Kin
g Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the milestone Peace of Thorn, which
created the future Duchy of Prussia, a Polish vassal. The Jagiellons at one poi
nt also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards)
and Hungary.[35][36] In the south Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the
Crimean Tatars (by whom they were attacked on 75 separate occasions between 1474
and 1569),[37] and in the east helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow
. Some historians estimate that Crimean Tatar slave-raiding cost Poland one mill
ion of its population from 1494 to 1694.[38]
Wawel, the seat of Polish kings. Krakw was the nation's capital from 1038 until t
he move to Warsaw in 1596
Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural econo
my and an increasingly powerful landed nobility. The Nihil novi act adopted by t
he Polish Sejm (parliament) in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power f
rom the monarch to the Sejm, an event which marked the beginning of the period k
nown as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polis
h nobility. Protestant Reformation movements made deep inroads into Polish Chris
tianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tol
erance, unique in Europe at that time.[39] This tolerance allowed the country to
avoid most the religious turmoil that spread over Europe during the late Middle
Ages.[39] The European Renaissance evoked in late Jagiellon Poland (kings Sigis
mund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus) a sense of urgency in the need to prom
ote a cultural awakening, and during this period Polish culture and the nation's
economy flourished. In 1543 the Pole, Nicolaus Copernicus, an astronomer from T
orun, published his epochal works, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the R
evolutions of the Celestial Spheres), and thus became the first proponent of a p
redictive mathematical model confirming heliocentric theory which became the acc
epted basic model for the practice of modern astronomy. Another major figure ass

ociated with the era is classicist poet Jan Kochanowski.[40]


Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Main article: History of Poland (1569 1795)
Sigismund's Chapel of the Wawel Cathedral, the main burial site for Polish monar
chs since the 14th century
The 1569 Union of Lublin established the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more cl
osely unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but which was governed la
rgely by the nobility, through a system of local assemblies with a central parli
ament. The Warsaw Confederation (1573) confirmed the religious freedom of all re
sidents of Poland, which was extremely important for the stability of the multie
thnic Polish society of the time.[26] Serfdom was banned in 1588.[41] The establ
ishment of the Commonwealth coincided with a period of stability and prosperity
in Poland, with the union thereafter becoming a European power and a major cultu
ral entity, occupying approximately one million square kilometers of Central and
Eastern Europe, as well as an agent for the dissemination of 'Western culture'
through Polonization in modern-day Ukraine, Belarus and Western Russia. Poland-L
ithuania suffered from a number of dynastic crises during the reigns of the Vasa
kings Sigismund III and Wladyslaw IV and found itself engaged in major conflict
s with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, as well as a series of minor Cossa
ck uprisings.[42] In 1610 Hetman Stanislaw Zlkiewski seized Moscow after winning
the Battle of Klushino.
The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent, after the Truce of Deul
ino (Dywilino) of 1619
From the middle of the 17th century, the nobles' democracy, suffering from inter
nal disorder, gradually declined, thus leaving the once powerful Commonwealth vu
lnerable to foreign intervention.
From 1648, the Cossack Khmelnytsky Uprising engulfed the south and east eventual
ly leaving Ukraine divided, with the eastern part, lost by the Commonwealth, bec
oming a dependency of the Tsardom of Russia. This was followed by the 'Deluge',
a Swedish invasion, which marched through the Polish heartlands and damaged Pola
nd's population, culture and infrastructure. Around four million of Poland's ele
ven million population died in famines and epidemics in this period.[43]
However, under John III Sobieski the Commonwealth's military prowess was re-esta
blished, and in 1683 Polish forces played a major part in relieving Vienna of a
Turkish siege which was being conducted by Kara Mustafa in hope of eventually ma
rching his troops further into Europe to spread Islam.
Jan III Sobieski sends a message to the Pope after the victory over the Muslim O
ttoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna
Sobieski's reign marked the end of the nation's golden-era. Finding itself subje
cted to almost constant warfare and suffering enormous population losses as well
as massive damage to its economy, the Commonwealth fell into decline. The gover
nment became ineffective as a result of large-scale internal conflicts (e.g. Lub
omirski's Rokosz against John II Casimir and rebellious confederations) and corr
upted legislative processes. The nobility fell under the control of a handful of
magnats, and this, compounded with two relatively weak kings of the Saxon Wetti
n dynasty, Augustus II and Augustus III, as well as the rise of Russia and Pruss
ia after the Great Northern War only served to worsen the Commonwealth's plight.
Despite this The Commonwealth-Saxony personal union gave rise to the emergence
of the Commonwealth's first reform movement, and laid the foundations for the Po
lish Enlightenment.[44]

Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani
a acceded to the throne in 1764, reigning until his abdication on 25 November 17
95
During the later part of the 18th century, the Commonwealth made attempts to imp
lement fundamental internal reforms; with the second half of the century bringin
g a much improved economy, significant population growth and far-reaching progre
ss in the areas of education, intellectual life, art, and especially toward the
end of the period, evolution of the social and political system. The most populo
us capital city of Warsaw replaced Gdansk (Danzig) as the leading centre of comm
erce, and the role of the more prosperous townsfolk increased.
The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanislaw August Poniato
wski, a refined and worldly aristocrat connected to a major magnate faction, to
the monarchy. However, a one-time lover of Empress Catherine II of Russia, the n
ew king spent much of his reign torn between his desire to implement reforms nec
essary to save his nation, and his perceived necessity to remain in a relationsh
ip with his Russian sponsor. This led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confedera
tion, a szlachta rebellion directed against Russia and the Polish king that foug
ht to preserve Poland's independence and the szlachta's traditional privileges.
Attempts at reform provoked the union's neighbours, and in 1772 the First Partit
ion of the Commonwealth by Russia, Austria and Prussia took place; an act which
the "Partition Sejm", under considerable duress, eventually "ratified" fait acco
mpli.[45] Disregarding this loss, in 1773 the king established the Commission of
National Education, the first government education authority in Europe. Corpora
l punishment of children was officially prohibited in 1783 as first in the world
at all schools.[46]
The Great Sejm convened by Sta

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